Wrench



J. B. 8008 I Dec. 8, 1942.

' WRENCH Filed 'April 17, 1959 IYNVENTOR Joseph B. 5005 BY QWEFLOZL' ATTORNEY Patented Dec. 8, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT orrics WRENCH Joseph B. Boos, Kansas City, Mo.; Lyal R. Boos, executor of said Joseph B. Boos, deceased, assignor of one-fourth to Robert H, Miller,

Kansas City, Mo.

Application April 1'7, 1939, Serial No. 268,237

2 Claims.

at the same time is strong, the strength being equalized so that there will be no breakage of the wrench when it is applied in the opposite way to that customarily used for applying a wrench to a member, as is sometimes necessary in close places, and which is so constructed that the wrench can engage a member, that it is designed to rotate, even if located in places that are difficult of access. A vise-like grip is obtained by means of the jaws, due to the fact that a long screw-thread is utilized for adjusting the jaws and there is no lost motion in the parts such as would leave undesirable play between the movable and fixed jaws of the wrench, interfering with the close adjustment thereof to the part that is to be rotated thereby.

A small number of relatively simple parts made up of stock materials that are shaped into the desired form for use as the respective parts of the wrench by simple operations are utilized in making my improved wrench. The jaw members are, of course, forged in the larger size wrenches,

and stamped in the smaller siZe wrenches, it being necessary to use a tempered, hardened steel for the jaws of the larger wrenches. The other parts of the wrench are all made of simple stampings, or parts made by means of an automatic screw machine so that said parts can be produced very cheaply.

It is a particular purpose of my invention to provide a wrench having a tubular, or sleeve-like, handle portion, which is made on a screw machine from round bar stock, such as cold rolled steel, and a housing member that is made of an integral sleeve and collar, or reinforced portion, adjacent the fixed jaw, made of seamless tubing, which is cut down from the thickness or" the heavier or reinforced part, to the thickness of the main body portion thereof in an automatic screw machine and then shaped in a forming die to the cross sectional shape desired.

It is a further purpose of my invention to provide a pipe wrench that is narrow and compact 55 in construction, so that it is capable of being used in, close places and which has a vise-like grip on the pipe, or other member, that is engaged thereby, so as to avoid any lost motion in gripping a pipe or similar round member, as is customary in pipe wrenches. Furthermore a pipe wrench is provided in which any of the parts can be replaced at small expense, the spring being easily removable and replaceable, and ,the other parts of said pipe wrench being of a very'sturdy construction and yet being readily disengaged for replacement purposes, should this become necessary.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will appear as the description thereof proceeds. I-desire to have it understood, however, that I do 'not intend to limit myself to the particular details shown or described, except as defined in the claims.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a pipe wrench made in accordance with my invention.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view through the handle and housing portions'of said wrench,- the jaws being shown in elevation.

Fig. 3 is a section taken on the line 3--3 of tion is shown as applied to a pipe wrench. Said wrench comprises a pair of jaw forming members It] and II, a housing, or confining, member l2 and -a combined handle and adjusting member I3.

The jaw member II is made of one piece of metal and has a shaft, or shank, portion l4 and an inclined serrated jaw l5, which is provided on the upper face of the lateral projection IE on said jaw member. The shank portion M has a transverse groove, or recess, ll formed in the end thereof remote from the jaw l5, thus providing a transverse rib, or shoulder, l8 at the extremity of said shank portion spaced from a shoulder l9 formed by means of said groove. The jaw member I0 is made of two pieces that are hingedly connected together, so that a relative swinging movement of the two portions 2t and 2| of said jaw Hi can take place. r v

The portion 20 has an enlargement 22 on one end thereof that provides a serrated jaw member 23 opposite the jaw l5 and cooperating therewith in the usual manner. The shank portion of the member 20 is provided with a transverse recess 24, providing an enlargement 25 spaced from a shoulderZBthereon. The shoulder 26 extends substantially transversely of the length of the shank portion, but is slightly cut away at 21 at an angle so as to permit sufiicient freedom of movement of the parts that rocking of the member relative to the member 2| can take place. The shank portion of the member 20 has a face 28 that engages the fiat face 29 on the shank member M, the opposite face of the shank member |4 being convexly curved, as indicated at 36. The face 28 is shown as being slightly concave and is beveled slightly at 3| to permit rocking movement of the member 26. The end face of .the member 29 opposite that having the enlargement 22 thereon is also provided with a beveled portion 32, to permit such rocking movement. A spring 33 is secured to the convex longitudinal edge 34 of the member 20, by means of any suitable securing element 35, and engages the inner concave face 36 of the confining member l2, so that the tendency of said spring is to hold the convex face of the member M in engagement with the concave inner surface 3'! of the confining member 2, and to hold the member 20 in engagement with the shank portion 4 yieldingly.

The wall of the groove providing the enlargement has a concavely curved portion 38, an inclined portion 39 and a convexly curved portion 46 cooperating with a convexly curved portion 4|, an inclined portion 42 and a concavely curved portion 43 on the enlargement 44 provided on the member 2|, said member 2| being cut away to provide a recess to receive the enlargement 25 on the member 20, and having a shoulder 45 thereon, so that the members 20 and 2| are interlocked to hold the same from relative lengthwise movement, but permitting a swinging, or rocking, movement of the member 29, so that the jaw member 23 can operate in the usual manner of a pipe wrench jaw with acooperating jaw l5. The member 2| has a threaded shank portion 46, which screw-threadedly engages the internally screw-threaded portion 41 of the combined handle and adjusting member l3. Said member I3 is provided with a bore 48 of larger diameter than the screw-threaded openings 41, thus providing a thin walled portion at one end of the tubular member l3 and a thick walled portion at the other end thereof, said thick walled portion having an annular groove 49 therein that receives the rib, or enlargement, IS on the shank portion The portion l6 of the jaw member II is thicker than the shank portion, providing an inclined shoulder 59, which cooperates with the inclined edge portion 5| on the confining member l2, to hold the jaw member in fixed position between the shoulder provided by the groove 49 and said inclined edge 5|, thus fixing the member II in the member l2 from longitudinal movement, the end wall 52 of the member |3 engaging the end wall 53 of the member |2 to hold said jaw member in such fixed position, the distance between the shoulder I9 and the shoulder being the same as the distance between the inclined edge 5| and the end wall 52.

It will be noted that the members 6, and I2 are each made of one piece of material and that the entire wrench comprises only seven parts, the two members 20 and 2|, constituting the jaw member m, the jaw member H, the member |2, the member l3, the spring 33 and securing element 35. A pipe wrench is provided by means of my invention that is very compact in construction and which is much smaller at its jaw end than customarily, thus permitting access to places in which it would ordinarily be impossible to operate pipe wrenches of ordinary construction.

In assembling the wrench, the members It and I are inter-engaged, the member I being placed within the confining member I2 and the members l0 and H, in interengagement, are pushed lengthwise from the end 54 of the confining member |2 into the same, this being possible due to the fact that the threaded shank portion 46 of the member 2| is provided with a pair of flat faces 55 on opposite sides thereof that reduce the transverse dimension of said shank portion, so that it will pass between the parallel opposite walls 56 of the member l2. The threaded shank portion 46 is, however, not passed entirely through the member |2 in assembling the device, but only far enough beyond the end 52 thereof that the threads thereon can be engaged by the internal threads on the member l3, which has been first inter-engaged with the member H, by laterally moving the same into position so that the projection l8 will be in the groove 49. Thus the member |3 will be in alignment with the threaded portion 46 as it is passed through the member l2, so that by rotating the member l3 it will grip the threads on the shank portion 46, whereupon it will interlock the members I, I2 and I3, as well as the two parts of the member '|'0 all with each other, so as to hold the parts assembled. It will be noted that the sleeve-like member I2 is thickened, or enlarged, as indicated at 51, adjacent the end thereof nearest the jaws I5 and 23, so as to additionally strengthen said member l2 at said end thereof.

What I claim is:

1. In a wrench, a fixed and a movable jaw member, said jaw members having elongated shank portions integral therewith, said shank portions having fiattened faces adapted to engage with each other, a tubular housing embracing said shank portions, a spring on the shank portion of said movable jaw within said housing, engaging said housing to urge said shank portion toward said other shank portion, a hollow tubular handle, interengaging means on said handle and the shank portion of said fixed jaw member detachably connecting said handle and shank portion, said fixed jaw engaging one end of said housing and said tubular handle engaging the other end thereof, a screw-threaded member,-

interengaging means on said screw-threaded member and the shank portion of said movable jaw member detachably connecting the same Within said housing adjacent the handle engaging end thereof to permit a limited rocking movement of said shank portion relative to said screw-threaded member and holding said screwthreaded and shank members against relative longitudinal movement, and internally screwthreaded means on said handle engaging said screw-threaded member.

2. In a wrench, jaw members having jaw portions and elongated shank portions integral therewith, said shank portions having flattened faces adapted to engage with each other a housing, one of said jaw members being fixed relative to said housing and the other jaw member being movable relative to said housing and .fixed jaw member, said shank portions being embraced by said housing, a spring on the shank portion of said movable jaw member within said housing, engaging the inner face of said housing to urge said shank portion toward the shank portion of said fixed jaw member, a hollow tubular handleflnscrew-threaded member and holding said screwthreaded and shank members against relative longitudinal movement, and internally screwthreaded means on said handle engaging said screw-threaded member, said housing and said tubular handle forming a substantially continuous closed walled casing for said shank portion of said movable jaw member and said screwthreaded member. v

JOSEPH B. BOOS. 

